High-mountain tea or ''gaoshan'' tea (; pronounced ) refers to several varieties of

Oolong Oolong (, ; (''wūlóngchá'', "dark dragon" tea)) is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea (''Camellia sinensis)'' produced through a process including withering the plant under strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting.Zhongguo ...

tea grown in the mountains of central

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. It is grown at altitudes higher than above sea level, and includes varieties such as Alishan,

Dayuling Dayuling (, el. 2565 m), formerly Hehuan Pass (), is a mountain pass in Taiwan transversing the Central Mountain Range between Hehuanshan and Mt. Bilu (畢祿山), within Taroko National Park. Administratively, it is located in Xiulin, Hua ...

Yu Shan Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain, or , and known as Mount Niitaka during Japanese rule, is the highest mountain in Taiwan at above sea level, giving Taiwan the 4th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the ...

, Wushe, and Lishan. The high

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

and natural

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

in the high mountain ranges of

Nantou Nantou may refer to: * Nantou County (南投縣), a county in central Taiwan (Republic of China) * Nantou City (南投市), seat of Nantou County, Taiwan * Nantou (historical town) (南头), a historic town and former administrative center of Xin' ...

and

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name ...

Counties make the region a suitable environment for growing tea plants. High Mountain Oolong is a tea that holds all of its original nutrients that are within the unfermented green tea. It does not hold the usual grass-like taste, but the fermentation process that removes the harsh ingredients allows the tea to taste flavorful.

Production

Gaoshan tea leaves are usually hand harvested, and grow slowly due to the thin air in high altitudes. Hence, the yield of gaoshan tea is relatively low every year. There are two kinds of gaoshan tea based on the season: ''winter gaoshan'' is harvested during late October, and ''spring gaoshan'' is harvested during the middle of June. It takes about 36 to 40 hours to process a batch of gaoshan tea. If weather allows, the handplucked leaves are spread on top of a tarp, where they develop

aroma An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sens ...

s such as jasmine, rose and geranium. The tea is folded to bruise the leaf for oxidation and is then transferred to another tray to ferment and wither for eight hours. It is then packaged as "handkerchief tea", where farmers emphasize on the quality of the tea rather than the quantity.

References

Oolong tea Taiwanese tea {{Taiwan-cuisine-stub